


After Hours

by Sommersets



Category: South Park
Genre: Aged up characters, Alternate Universe - High School, Confessions, Craig plays dumb to get the smartest kid in school to notice him, Craig’s IQ lowers when he gets a crush, M/M, Misunderstandings, One-Shot, Studying Sessions, fluff with a non-traditional fluff ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:41:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24148333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sommersets/pseuds/Sommersets
Summary: Craig makes up excuses to get private tutoring sessions out of his crush. But, playing dumb to get attention was not his forte.Written for Cryle Week 2020, Day 3 - High School.
Relationships: Kyle Broflovski/Craig Tucker
Comments: 10
Kudos: 73
Collections: Cryle Week 2020





	After Hours

"Hey. Broflovski."

A swift kick to the back of his chair broke his concentration.

"What?" Kyle hissed in annoyance, whipping around in his chair so that he was face to face with the perpetrator, a boy in a dark hoodie. Craig was draped over his desk, wearing a perpetual smirk. They didn’t have that many classes together, but he was blessed to share at least one class second period- AP literature with him. Sometimes he wondered if Craig didn’t know his first name or didn’t bother memorizing it, either way, he was an expert on getting on his nerves. 

"I need your help with this." Craig tapped his desk and shoved a stack of papers unceremoniously under his nose.

Green eyes skimmed the pages of unfinished math problems. 

"I'm not even taking calculus this semester. Go ask someone else." The redhead answered, brows furrowed, and returned to reading his book. Kyle hoped that his flat-out rejection would be the end of that. He could go back to reading the assigned sections of Heart of Darkness, which was an excruciating exercise in itself. 

The dark-haired boy would not relent and the pressure on the back of his chair didn't decrease. "Come on, Broflovski. I'll make it worth your time." It seemed that Craig wasn't about to give up until he got a yes. 

The redhead sighed and put down the novel - it was unlikely that he would get a chance to continue reading the text with the existence of the major pain in the ass behind him. 

“First off, get my name right. “ He retorted.  _ Deal with one thing a time.  _

“Right. Kyle.” Craig grinned and for the first time, it was not in a sardonic sense. 

"Tutor me and I'll treat you to lunch." Craig offered again. 

Kyle huffed and countered the proposition. "If you treat me every day for the rest of the year, we might have a deal."

"Okay, then. Deal." The pressure on the back of his chair finally relented. “Let’s meet at 4:30 after school, in the library.”

Kyle blinked. To his surprise, Craig easily capitulated to his demands. Maybe he seriously did need the help.

* * *

  
  


He scanned the room and to his surprise, Craig was early for their rendezvous. He arrived at the library half an hour early, but it looks like the dark-haired boy was there too. The unpacked school bag and a stack of textbooks were laid out on the table. 

The redhead grabbed a seat next to him. “Robotics club got canceled today.” 

“You ready to start now? Show me the problem you’re stuck on.” 

Craig nodded and grabbed the TI calculator. Passing off the circled problems to Kyle, so they could look at them together. And they repeated that task every day, after school.

Even with the weeks passing and all their study sessions, Kyle could see no drastic improvement. The dark-haired boy just wasn't getting it. Craig was still struggling with the basic concepts of derivatives even after the redhead painstakingly explained each step to him. As grateful as he was for the free lunch every day, Kyle wondered if he should tell Craig to save the money and buy a subscription to Wolfram Alpha instead of wasting both their time.

"Hey, pay attention." Kyle nudged Craig when he caught him scrolling through his phone instead of focusing on the problem.

"I'm still listening, just need to check my texts."

Kyle balked at his response. It was a wonder why Craig wasn't improving at all because he wasn't taking studying seriously.

"When you're here with me, put it away. What is more important than passing AP Calc AB?” The redhead squinted at Craig’s phone screen and scoffed. “Fucking Fortnite memes?” 

Craig deadpan expression shifted ever so slightly. "Uh... Yeah, definitely Fortnite memes."

"Look, I really don't give a shit but if you don't want to learn, I'm going home. " Kyle laid out his ultimatum in a huff, prepared to pack his bags.

“I want to.” Craig stuffed the phone back into his pocket in obeisance.

"You have my full attention, Broflovski." The stormy grey eyes observed him closely as Kyle continued, grabbing the pen. 

  
  


Everything was going well, or so he thought. He had taken four months of sitting down and getting to know Kyle, watching him open up, and get down to his quirks like hating texture of bananas and cheese and talking way too fast when it was on some topic he was excited about. The redhead had also bought a switch just to play animal crossing and harassed Craig to water his flowers every day. The redhead had said, elated, that Craig was the only person he knew who was playing the game and he needed to breed more hybrids. Everyone else bought a copy of Doom Eternal. Actually, Craig owned both of those titles, but he didn’t mind playing animal crossing every day with Kyle. There was a certain relaxed side of him when he let down his guard. Kyle was really different when he wasn’t around his friends and Craig liked that. 

But, then came the day he was found out. He got hit with the angry confrontation, complete with a resounding locker slam, and whatever good grace he had with Kyle Broflovski was long gone. 

“Care to explain why you’re fucking with me?” The redhead had his arms crossed tightly over his shirt. “Stan told me that you didn’t need to be tutored and you never did. Your grades are so high in the class, you’re fucking over the curve. He’s the one barely passing.” 

Right. Fuck, Marsh was in his class. He forgot about that. Well, the jig was up. Time to tell the truth. 

“Well?” 

“What?” The redhead furrowed his brows when the ghost of a smile crossed Craig’s lips. “Why are you smiling? You’re so fucking weird, dude.” 

Fuck, wrong expression. Actually, maybe not - considering it’s finally time to get a huge weight off his chest. 

“You’re right. I don’t need to be tutored. But - “ Craig answered. “I wanted you to notice me. And I got tired of waiting for that.” 

Cue the dumbfounded expression on Kyle’s face. 

“Would you have talked to me if I didn’t come to you for help?” 

“Okay. So, you’re throwing away your future for a chance to talk to me? Don’t make shit up.” 

“I’m not bombing the class. I borrowed the papers from Clyde so you would keep tutoring me.” 

Craig balled up his fists. This is it, there’s no more need to wait for the right place, right time to confess.  _ Here goes. _

“Look, I like you. That’s why I did it.” 

There was Shock. Then, silence. That’s it, he was waiting for the inevitable rejection 

“You like me... As in…” He paused, trying to work out what he had just learned. “You want to date me? And, you’re gay?” Yes, he was gay. As if it wasn’t an obvious fact when he was first outed back in elementary school. Everyone in their grade knew, well… maybe everyone except for Kyle, judging from his reaction. 

“Yes.” Craig nodded in affirmation. For the smartest kid in their grade, the frontrunner to be valedictorian, Kyle was incredibly dense about these things. 

“Okay.” 

Now it was Craig’s turn to be taken back. “What?” 

“I said, yes. I’ll date you.” Kyle reiterated, blushing before rambling on. “I’d like to try- um, I’m actually bi, but haven’t had a chance to date any guys yet- or really, girls for that matter, not since Lola Perkins asked me out after the middle school dance- but yes, I’m interested.“ 

“Okay.” Craig managed to find his footing. “Then, meet me after school.” 

“Deal.” The redhead’s hand slowly closed over his.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> There was a lot of struggle with the title to this fic but it’s just a short one shot I’ve been thinking about since last year. Happy cryle week 2020.


End file.
